Gun show shopping

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Double_J said:
I usually go to buy either reloading materials to save hazmat shipping, or random small parts that disappear during "deep cleaning" or to go get random trinkets/jerky/kettle corn. I have not bought anything of real substance in several years due to the show's being an utter waste of time. The same vendors selling the same stuff over and over again.
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I kinda fell into a oddball collecting area by accident. Came across a few cool vintage ammo boxes. Added a few here and there and got a glass fronted golf ball display case for them. I don't have a lot but I have picked up a few at the trinkets tables. Been a fan of firearms has so many different areas for a collector to get involved in.
As to your second point, I used to love flea markets but now they have gone from people trying to get rid of old junk (or junque depending on price) to people trying to sell new cheap import stuff they buy from China.
Love looking at, and occaisionally buying, interesting weird old stuff.
Might be because I'm old and weird?
 
I've gone to the big regional gunshow every year for the last ten. Haven't bought anything in 9 years.
 
I went a few shows over a few years without buying anything, then stopped going about ten years ago. Prices were way too high on guns, and I'm not in the market for beef jerky or second hand romance novels.
 
So, has anyone gone to a gun show and not bought one single thing?

Typically, that is the case for me.

Used to be, or so it seems to me, that gun shows were where reasonable prices were being asked for what was being offered. These days, it seems that the folks at gun shows think that what they are offering are priceless treasures that must demand a premium even though it isn't worth it in almost every case. Now, better...much better, deals can be found on the internet, or at local stores.
 
481 said:
Used to be, or so it seems to me, that gun shows were where reasonable prices were being asked for what was being offered.
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In my 20s, I had a friend who was a FFL and would help him out with local gun shows in the same town. Over the decades, competition from online vendors simply out priced these small individual FFLs who attended gun shows and their businesses closed or they retired.

And I think some vendors who used to sell at gun shows at "reasonable" prices found out selling on ebay/armslist to be more profitable and can do it on 24/7/365 basis instead of paying gun show table fees to attend occasional shows driving hours away.

Another reason could be this. There was an elderly vendor at local gun show who always had vintage/reloading gear and he said he bought his inventory from estate sales of shooters/reloaders statewide. Well, these days, many families of deceased use services of companies instead of doing estate sales themselves and these companies likely have buyers already lined up. Over the years, his inventory became smaller and smaller and prices began to creep up (Of course, simple inflation too).

Hence why we see less vendors that are asking for "reasonable" prices for used/vintage tools. Yes, I think it's tacky to sell used romance novels and yard sale/flea market items at gun shows. Military surplus/new made in China "tactical" items, OK but used books? :eek:
 
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I go to The Nation's Gun Show in Chantilly, VA, many times each year, though it IS expensive (but I can afford it). I really like going with my brother as it is 2-3 hours of catching-up and seeing what is available at a non-rushed pace. I purchased my 1989 BHP summer 2018 and I usually leave with some random cleaning supplies (but occasionally I don't get a thing).

I have twice made smoking great deals. I picked up 1000 rounds of 30 carbine from Sellior and Bellot at $18 a box (usually goes for closer to $25, but I won't buy it at those prices). I also picked up a really nice Marlin Camp 45 for $600 in 2013 or so. Sold it a year later (it was super filthy to shoot, and let's face it, PCCs are over-rated).
 
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My experiences with Gun Shows mirrored, to a great degree, my experiences with "Computer" Shows.

In the latter half of the '80s I found that I had to go to Computer Shows to find both specific products (for my personal use) and good prices.

Same with Gun Shows.

With the advent of the Web and the proliferation & diversification of online vendors, that is where, quite often, the specific products and best prices were to be found.

I attended my last Computer Show in, probably, 1997 and my last Gun Show in ~2002.

Yes, there are more reasons to attend a Gun Show than to buy a firearm or firearm accessories/products but with the changes that I saw in the local gun shows by the turn of the millennium, I realized that any more trips for me would just be a waste of my time.
 
bds said:
In my 20s, I had a friend who was a FFL and would help him out with local gun shows in the same town. Over the decades, competition from online vendors simply out priced these small individual FFLs who attended gun shows and their businesses closed or they retired.

And I think some vendors who used to sell at gun shows at "reasonable" prices found out selling on ebay/armslist to be more profitable and can do it on 24/7/365 basis instead of paying gun show table fees to attend occasional shows driving hours away.

Another reason could be this. There was an elderly vendor at local gun show who always had vintage/reloading gear and he said he bought his inventory from estate sales of shooters/reloaders statewide. Well, these days, many families of deceased use services of companies instead of doing estate sales themselves and these companies likely have buyers already lined up. Over the years, his inventory became smaller and smaller and prices began to creep up (Of course, simple inflation too).

Hence why we see less vendors that are asking for "reasonable" prices for used/vintage tools. Yes, I think it's tacky to sell used romance novels and yard sale/flea market items at gun shows. Military surplus/new made in China "tactical" items, OK but used books? :eek:
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Y'know, now that I think about it, most of the purchases that I did make at gun shows occurred 'pre-internet'. I think that you hit the nail on the head.
 
I go, but don’t often buy. Recently in one of three shows, I purchased a 224 upper and an engraved dust cover. The other two, nada
 
We've got some pretty good gun shows up here (Washington Arms Collectors) so I don't go to a show unless I plan on buying something.

Kramer Handgun Leather has a booth, so I usually pick up a great horsehide holster. Couple of our local retailers typically have good deals on bulk ammo, so if it's cheaper than buying online with shipping, I'll buy a few lots. Can usually find a decent deal or trade on a used S&W revolver, and there's always some hunting rifles to dicker over.

But, I don't need to buy anything. I just like going to have conversations with like-minded folk and listen to stories. Not always about getting a deal.
 
I used to get all pumped up for gun shows and always took a pocketful of money and almost went in with the mindset that I had to buy something. I guess I didn't want to feel like I wasted the cost of admission or the 1 or 2 hours it took driving there. These days, I go to almost every show within a 2 hour drive and spend most of my time talking to friends that I only see at shows. I usually take a few guns for trade bait but normally leave them in the truck unless I find something I want to dicker on. I get tired of some of the dealers running up to you and asking what you got to sell? I only carry in things initially is I have to park a long way away from the door. I'm a lazy ass! One thing I can say for sure at ANY gun show. If you want to find your grail gun or the deal of the century, go WITHOUT MONEY! It will catch you every time. I have friends who have stopped going because "its the same thing and same people with the same guns at every show". I agree, but if you don't go, you can assure yourself of not finding a deal. Last summer I was sitting around one Saturday morning. Girlfriend was out of town and I was bored. There was a small show I had never attended about 2.5 hours away. It was pouring rain as well, but I decided to go. Parking lot was a mud bog. Show was the smallest I had ever been to. Building was about half the size of the average Armory. Very few guns I even looked twice at, but at the 2nd table from the door laid a beautiful 3.5" Pre Model 27. Seller kinda knew what he had but wasn't real sure. It went home with me for about the same price I would expect to pay for a shooter grade Model 27. You just never know and that's why I will keep going.
 
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I have to admit that since the import ban, they haven’t been the same. The one thing I look for now is wad cutter 38s.
 
I have been and bought nothing. (Excluding entry, raffle ticket - which is a donation in my case, perhaps soft drink and snack/lunch.) I do not buy 'new' guns at all anymore. I have a couple of collectable items for which I look, but not as many as used to was. I also look for some oddball ammunition and bullets in odd sizes for some of my odd rifles. There is a obsolete gun parts guy I often patronize (I have a Mauser Gewehr 98 missing an upper heat shield; one cannot find them in typical gun stores.)

I see lots of old friends, too.

But the point is well taken, one normally cannot find 'new' stuff for less than retail. Not often enough to count on.
 
Yes, as others have said, more often than not, I have not purchased anything as opposed to making a purchase and taking something home. In recent years, my persoanal average as a potential buyer is probably about 2 to 3%, meaning I buy something 2 or 3 times out of every 100 shows that I attend.

Now, let's look at the same question from the other side. Has anyone set up at a gun show and not sold one single thing? Yes, many times. Back in the day when I worked for gun shops that set up at gun shows, there were several shows were we didn't sell a single item. One time we not only didn't sell anything, some low-life stole one of our items! Even when we did make some sales, there were countless shows where we didn't sell enough to cover the cost of the show. For example, one of the shops I worked for typically would have 10 tables. At $50 a table that's $500, plus electricity (many show promoters charge extra for that!) the motel room for two nights, plus gas, plus my wages. Altogether the cost was right around $1000 for a typical out of town show. Working on a margin of 10%, which would be generous because it was often much lower, that means the dealer I worked for had to sell $10,000 in merchandise just to break even. Yea, lots of shows with no or meaningless sales from both the buyers side of the table and the sellers side.

All that leads to another question -- so what? If you don't like going, don't go. All of the dealers I worked for in the past have either gone out of business or don't do gun shows. Yet, I still go. As others have mentioned, I don't go expecting to buy something. I go because it is an activity that I still enjoy. Yes, I enjoyed it more 50+ years ago when I started going to shows, but I still enjoy it today, and, if you haven't noticed, there's a whole lot of people out there trying to deprive me of that. In this day and age, it's unusual for me to go to a show where some left-wing lunatic isn't trying to cause a incident, protest the existance of the show, or do something to get it closed down. And, once again, based on 50+ years of experience attending show, it's working. Every year that goes by, I'm amazed that there are still shows out there for me to attend. Just last weekend, for example, I drove about fifty miles and paid the $5 admission to attend a show that I walked through twice in less than 15 minutes. The number of people selling pickles outnumbered the people selling guns and ammunition. Even the Masons had a table! But I still had a good time and will go again the next time.... if there is a next time.
 
Yep, way more often than not. People seem to be awfully proud of the stuff they lay out on their table. I stopped going to them a couple of years ago. I can get better deals at my LGS’s, especially since I like old things made of wood and blued steel, and I prefer to support them.
 
The last gun show I went to was three years ago. I bought a knife for my girlfriend and nothing for myself. (It was her birthday.)
 
FlSwampRat said:
So, has anyone gone to a gun show and not bought one single thing?

Asking for a friend.
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Yep, the last couple of times I went.

I was looking for something very specific which nobody had. Lately, gun shows around here are really only good for commodity items like the most popular name brand handguns and popular ammunition.

I'll be going again in a couple of weeks to pick up a couple of boxes of. 45 Colt and maybe a Dillon conversion kit if by some miracle somebody has Dillon equipment.
 
Plenty of times.

The first few times I went to the gun shows, I was upset because I didn't see a single deal in the whole show (on anything I was interested in, anyways...). Traffic was frustrating, some of the sellers were jerks, or were charging a huge premium because they were "private" sellers, and it was just a waste of time, admission and parking. Ugh. It was awful.

The next few shows after that were HUGE shows, and I got so distracted just walking around, seeing the sights, and window shopping that I accidentally had fun. I might have bought some trinkets at some of them, but it was fun.

So, I've decided that gun shows are actually fun shows, and are to be regarded as mostly entertainment with the possibility of interesting purchases. I've paid more to see movies that I've enjoyed less, so it works out.
 
Have gone to numerous gun shows where I haven't bought a thing. Either I didn't have the money for anything or didn't find anything I really wanted, at least not at that price!
 
I often leave without buying anything. But looking is fun!

One show where I did buy something stands out. The vendor gave me a recycled Victoria's Secret bag to carry my purchase in as I went through the rest of the aisles of the show. Every couple of minutes afterwards, people would come up to me asking where the Victoria's Secret booth was.

Might be a marketing opportunity for future shows...
 
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